Surround Yourself with Great People to be Successful

Posted by Ben Lumley on Nov 19, 2009 in Success | 3 comments

photo credit: star5112

There are loads of sayings out there about success and how to get it. Some of them make perfect sense when you read them or hear them while others make you scratch your head and think “what the…..?”

The buzz saying where I work is “Success is a matter of attitude.” It’s a good one compared to some of the things you hear but I think I’m developing a better idea of what can make you successful, outside of the standard: being passionate, being positive or taking personal responsibility.

In my mind, Success is about whom you surround yourself with.

Let me explain

Have you ever noticed that when you’re with someone who’s very good at what they do that after a bit their mentality, and ultimately their success, starts to rub off on you? Sometimes just being around these kinds of people can change your outlook on a situation for the better or allow you a chance to see how someone else would deal with a problem or a challenge. Sometimes surrounding yourself with successful people can open up opportunities that just wouldn’t happen any other way and sometimes the whole ball game can change before your eyes.

Bows and Arrows

I my previous job, I was stuck in a rut. I wanted something better, something that paid more money and that gave me and my family a better quality of life. I desperately wanted a change but couldn’t see a way out and I was becoming miserable.

I’d befriended a contractor at work, who ran a local Archery Centre as well as a handful of other successful local businesses. One day, out of the blue, he asked me if I wanted to come and help him run a teambuilding day for another company he occasionally did some work with, and keen for any change of scenery, I jumped at the chance. The day was great and I also had the chance to meet the really cool people who we were working with for the day.

A few weeks later my mate came to me saying that he had a problem with one of his Archery Instructors and wondered if I could fill in for him, he also told me that the company we’d worked with on the teambuilding day wanted to talk to me about doing some work with them. Wow I thought, out of nowhere I had two potential job opportunities whereas yesterday I had nothing. After doing some sums I worked out that by taking both these jobs at once I could double my wages without doing anymore hours than I was working already.

By just being around a successful local entrepreneur, two fantastic opportunities appeared out of nowhere.

Hanging out with a Legend

Thomas Edison said “I never worked a day in my life…it was all fun.” Now I can’t honestly say that my work is like that 100% of the time but it’s not very far off. I get to have a great laugh everyday and also get to work with some awesome people who are truly experts in their fields.

One guy in particular is a bit of a legend in the arena. Well respected by people all over the country for what he does and how he does it, he’s always asked for by name when people want to work with our company. I love working with customers alongside him. His positive attitude and “nothing can beat me” approach to new challenges brings him success time and time again, in situations where mere mortals would have crumbled. Subconsciously this causes me to approach things in the same way as him and, not surprisingly, brings me similar success.

Just being around a successful person at work brings me success from places where normally I would struggle.

Off Chance Conversations on IM

This blog is also an example of what I’m talking about. I’ve been wanting to write something like 6aliens.com for a long time but always struggled to get the mix of content right or have the ability to host the site etc etc.

But when I’d got a really good idea in my head a while ago and mentioned it on the off chance to my friend Jon, something amazing happened because Jon is a very successful computer (Linux) geek.  He runs his own server and sells top quality, sparkly hosting and without a second thought, he offered to host the site for me, even offering to set it all up. A brief discussion about 10% of any profit if I became a millionaire came up but I saw no written, signed contract to that affect so don’t think it’s legally binding!

Had I not been talking to Jon about my idea and without him being an awesome dude 6aliens.com would not have been born.

So…..

Putting yourself into situations where you’re surrounding yourself with successful people can markedly improve your own success. Success rubs off on people, it’s like a piece of chalk, you just can’t help but get it on you just by being around it.

What story of success do you have?

Similar Posts:

• When Do You Actually Achieve Success? And Why Is It Not Always What You Expect?
• The Keys to Unlocking Success: Part 4 Being Positive
• Make a Change – It’s all in the mind
• The Keys to Unlocking Success: Part 6 Learning from Life
• The Keys to Unlocking Success: Part 1 – Focus

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